Overview: 14 paintings from Wassily Kandinsky's series of Improvisations, painted between 1909 and 1914, were assembled together with 15 preliminary drawings, watercolors, and prints. Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle), acquired by the Gallery in 1978, was the exhibition's focal point.

Organization: E.A. Carmean Jr., curator of 20th-century art, organized the exhibition. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition and Gordon Anson designed the lighting.

Petit journal: Kandinsky: The Improvisations, by E.A. Carmean Jr. and Trinkett Clark. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1981.